Bucknell president Brian Mitchell has just announced that Pat Flannery contacted him "earlier this week" and told him he wanted to retire as head men's basketball coach. Flannery will become involved in the university's fundraising campaign. It appears this really was Pat's decision.

Here are some edited quotes from the press conference which concluded at 10:25 EDT:

Flannery:
"I couldn't be happier. And my family couldn't be happier. One thing you'll notice today is, I have a tie on and I'm not chasing an official. That will be something that I will very much enjoy in my next role."

"I've come to realize that I've reached a point in my life where I'm looking forward to this change [to an administrative role]. ... I'll be glad to get out of the limelight."

Regarding his health issues and missing games during the past four seasons, three times leaving contests while they were in progress, Flannery mentioned his wife Patti and boys Ryan and Jesse:
"The most important thing was my wife and my kids. I can't thank them enough...

"Your kids go to school and they're asked a lot of crazy questions. Especially when they take your dad out and you don't know where he went. They [his sons, of middle-school and grade-school age] handled it probably better than I have."

On whether his health mandated that he retire in any way or that he was forced to quit, Flannery said no, not at all:

"I have a clean bill of health. I feel great. I think if I wanted to keep going, [his doctors] I'm sure would've said, 'Go for it.'

"I think my thing was, where was it going to lead? Was I going to get any better? I haven't changed in 28 years [in coaching] from when I was a 22-year-old and now I'm 50. That was leading to a path where... we all have family and you have kids. We all evaluate."

Flannery said he told the BU players Thursday night in a previously scheduled meeting:
"There were a lot of good feelings. ... Painless memories. No regrets."

No successor has been named. BU athletics director John Hardt said a "national serach" has been commenced.

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